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1 week ago | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
Scientists working at one of the world's leading X-ray lasers have used very high pressures and temperatures to elucidate for the first time the liquid structure of one of the most common elements in the universe—carbon (Nature, doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09035-6). They say that their result could improve the synthesis of novel materials and raise the efficiency of nuclear fusion reactions.
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3 weeks ago | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
Researchers in the United States have built a compact source of single photons at telecom wavelengths that might in future be used to make the nodes in a quantum network (Opt. Quantum, doi: 10.1364/OPTICAQ.546774). By generating each photon alongside a visible counterpart, the device allows heralding via fairly compact detectors and could potentially hook up diverse quantum computers over long distances.
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1 month ago | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
Scientists in the United States have shown how a coronagraph using what is known as spatial mode sorting could be used to image extrasolar planets at quantum limits (Optica, doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.545414). They say that their scheme should make it easier to study very faint exoplanets, including those similar to Earth.
Researchers to date have discovered nearly 6,000 planets orbiting stars other than our sun.
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1 month ago | 
optica-opn.org | Yijie Shen |Edwin Cartlidge |Jeff Hecht
Feature Articles
Topological Light Waves: Skyrmions Can Fly
Harnessing an emerging class of structured waves as counterparts of localized topological quasiparticles could revolutionize information technology.
by Yijie Shen
Squeezing on a Chip
Bulk optics gives us light beyond the quantum limit, but integrated photonics promises an extended reach—from biological imaging to quantum computing.
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1 month ago | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
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Feature
Bulk optics gives us light beyond the quantum limit, but integrated photonics promises an extended reach—from biological imaging to quantum computing.
The squeezed light source in LIGO’s vacuum chamber. [W.
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1 month ago | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
Scientists in Sweden have reportedly shown how to amplify laser light at telecom wavelengths over very high bandwidths by exploiting nonlinearities in single-mode spiral-shaped waveguides on a photonic chip (Nature, doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-08824-3). They say that their scheme could improve telecommunications and also be applied to medical imaging and material characterization.
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2 months ago | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
The Starshot Initiative has the ambitious aim of sending spacecraft to Alpha Centauri—the nearest star beyond the solar system—in flights lasting just 20 years. They plan to achieve this feat by using very intense laser beams fired from Earth to propel exceptionally thin “lightsails.”
Researchers in the Netherlands and the United States have now developed a possible blueprint for such sails (Nat. Commun., doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-57749-y).
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2 months ago | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
Scientists in Switzerland have demonstrated a high-bandwidth electro-optic modulator that relies on what are known as surface plasmon polaritons (Optica, doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.544016). They say that the device, which exhibits an efficient, almost flat response across a frequency range of nearly 1 THz, could, with suitable modifications, be used in 6G (sixth-generation) mobile networks as well as for sensing and medical imaging.
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Mar 5, 2025 | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
Scientists in China have used direct laser writing to create tiny features spaced just 100 nm apart in a monomer material at high speed (Opt. Lett., doi: 10.1364/OL.552034). They say that their new optimized form of printing might in future be used to fabricate a range of optical structures, such as photonic crystals, microolenses and metamaterials.
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Feb 18, 2025 | 
optica-opn.org | Edwin Cartlidge
Scientists in the United Kingdom and Japan have carried out computer simulations showing how visible light passing through a 3D lattice of atoms can undergo negative refraction (Nat. Commun., doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56250-w). The approach overcomes some of the limitations associated with artificial metamaterials, and the researchers say it should be achievable with existing laboratory setups.
